Agriculture Reference
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that producers utilizing grazing have lower milk production per cow but
also have lower operating expenses and greater net incomes per cow com-
pared with confinement systems [108-112]. In a 4-year study, White et al.
[108] examined economic measures in pasture systems using Holstein and
Jersey cows and found that cows in a pasture-based system produced 11%
less milk than cows in confinement. However, feed costs were on average
31% lower for the grazing cows compared to cows in confinement, and in-
come over feed was found to be the same between the two systems. Within
organic systems, McBride and Greene [113] noted that while feed costs
per cow were 25% less for organic dairies that used pasture for the major-
ity of their feed compared with organic dairies that used the least pasture,
milk production on pasture-intensive organic dairies was 30% less than
for dairies with minimal pasture use. However, this study was conducted
before the implementation of the pasture rule in 2010 which will have
signifi cantly increased the pasture feeding of organic cows previously fed
like non-organic dairy cows but with organically sourced feeds.
In general, economic factors including labor for animal care, manure
handling, forage management and cow culling rates were more desirable
for pasture-based systems. Veterinary costs were lower for organic than
non-organic dairy farms in the Netherlands [114] and the health of organic
dairy cows was found to be better than that of non-organic dairy cows
[115]. Organic dairy cows spend more time grazing, which results fewer
hoof and leg problems in part due to spending less time on concrete, and
organic dairy producers are more inclined to administer approved rem-
edies or take a wait-and-see approach before contacting a veterinarian
[42]. Hanson et al. [111] examined farm income tax returns from 62 dairy
farms in the mid-Atlantic region to evaluate fi nancial performance of dairy
producers utilizing either MiG or confi nement production systems. The
authors found that purchased feed expenses were 31% less in the MiG
systems compared to confi nement systems (267 vs. 387 $/acre, respec-
tively). Additionally, MiG operations produced less milk but had substan-
tially lower costs of production and were more profi table than confi nement
operations per hundredweight of milk produced and on a per-cow basis.
Moreover, there was no impact on total farm profi tability between the pro-
duction systems.
 
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